EMBERIZIN.^. 



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THE REED-BUNTING. 



Emberiza schceniclus, Linnaeus. 



This bird is often called the Reed-Sparrow, and has, unfortunately, 

 also been known as the Black-headed Bunting, which has led 

 to confusion with the totally different species already described 

 (p. 205). It is resident and generally distributed throughout Great 

 Britain and Ireland, breeding sparingly even in the Outer Hebrides 

 and the Orkneys, though only a rare visitor to the Shetlands. In 

 summer it frequents fairly damp spots, whether on the banks of 

 sluggish streams bordered by alders, osiers and sedge, or rush-grown 

 places on swampy moorlands. In winter it sometimes assembles 

 in flocks, and Booth found from forty to fifty birds roosting on 

 patches of reeds by small marsh dykes ; at that season also, in search 

 of food, it often shifts its haunts to stubbles and other places at 

 some distance from water. At intervals large numbers have been 

 known to cross the North Sea from the Continent and visit our east 

 coast in autumn, while a similar migration has been noticed on the 

 shores of Ireland. 



The Reed-Bunting inhabits suitable localities in Europe from the 

 vicinity of the North Cape to the Mediterranean, though in the 

 northern portions it is partially migratory, while it occurs irregularly 

 on Heligoland. In Spain and the extreme south, however, it is chiefly 

 observed during the winter, and comparatively few remain to breed. 

 It occurs in North-western Africa, yet in the North-east and in 

 Egypt it seems to be uncommon, and to Asia Minor it is only a 

 winter-visitor. Eastward, it is found across Siberia to Kamchatka ; 



